As the use of scanning services devices becomes more prevalent, it is also the case that users of such system require assistance in defining the parameters of images being created through scanning operations. Furthermore, one of the significant factors being treated in such systems is the explosive growth of file sizes for scanned images. While it is known to use image compression methods to process image data and reduce the size thereof, such methods do not always result in desired reductions in file size.
In view of such problems, the system and methods described herein provide for a post-error diffusion operation to be applied to error diffused photographic images or segments, and a morphological filtering operation to be applied to text segments. One such method is to rearrange the pixels in the error diffused binary image to make it more compression friendly. Such a process also works for mixed content scanned images, as long as segmentation is employed to separate the text and photo portions of the page.
Disclosed is a method for controlling image quality and file size of a scanned document, comprising: receiving a scanned input image, said image including an error-diffused portion and a text portion; segmenting the image into a plurality of regions, including at least one continuous tone region and one text region; processing at least one of said plurality of regions differently than the remaining regions in accordance with a user selection of output quality, wherein said processing includes pixel clustering of at least one of said regions; merging the processed regions to produce a representative image; and compressing the representative image.
Also disclosed is a method for controlling image characteristics, comprising receiving a scanned input image; segmenting the image to produce a segmented image; processing the segmented image in accordance with a user selection of an image characteristic; producing a representative image that includes at least a processed portion; and compressing the representative image.
Further disclosed is a scanning services system for controlling image characteristics, comprising a subsystem for digitizing a document and producing a representation thereof in the form of digital image data; and an image processor for receiving the digital image data and producing a compressed image in accordance with a user selection of an image characteristic, said characteristic indicating a manner of processing at least a portion of the compressed image.
The system and method will be described in connection with a preferred embodiment, however, it will be understood that there is no intent to limit the embodiment(s) described. On the contrary, the intent is to cover all alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims.